Who We Are
The Waikato Regional Education Group is coordinated by Waikato Regional Council and has been formed to promote road safety throughout the Waikato region, from the Bombay Hills in the north to the Desert Road in the south. It is a multi-agency partnership run in collaboration with the NZ Transport Agency, New Zealand Police, local Waikato councils and key road safety stakeholders.

Why we’re here
Road trauma in the Waikato is a nationally significant issue, with road deaths and serious injuries accounting for approximately 20 percent of the national road toll each year. Every death and injury has a devastating impact on our families, schools, workplaces and communities.

The overarching objective of the Regional Education Group is to reduce deaths and serious injuries and to improve the safety for all road users who travel on Waikato roads. Education is just one tool used to achieve this goal, and agencies are working together using a safe system approach. This approach recognises the vulnerability of people to crash forces and is built around the idea of protecting road users through safe road use, safe speeds, safe roads and roadsides and safe vehicles.

Reduce the Risk
The Reduce the Risk campaign aims to raise public awareness through regional education of the high priority road safety issues in the Waikato. It uses a consistent and collaborate approach to promote safer road use and delivers key road safety messages to specific audiences. It provides information and tools to assist individuals, families and organisations in the Waikato and illustrates that if we share the responsibility we can all work together to help reduce the risk.

Using the safe system approachThe safe system is a ‘shared responsibility’ approach which recognises the vulnerability of human beings to crash forces and is built around the central premise of protecting road users from death or serious injury.

The safe system approach is founded on four main principles: that people are vulnerable, that people make mistakes, that the responsibility for ensuring safety is a shared one, and that all parts of the system need to be strengthened to protect road users.

To create a safe system we need to achieve safe speeds, safe roads and roadsides, safe road use and safe vehicles, which requires the input of multiple stakeholders.

*Data has been sourced from the 2013-16 Waikato Regional Road Safety Strategy, the New Zealand Transport Agency and Ministry of Transport.